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Most Helpful Favorable Review

5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Well...

"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" is a strange, confusing, out of order, dizzying ride.... fabulous book! Worth the read, but not for casual readers as you'll want to finish the book in one sitting. Eggers is a "trip".

posted by MontyGeorge on May 6, 2010

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Most Helpful Critical Review

7 out of 9 people found this review helpful.

"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" could more

"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" could more accurately be titled" A Colossal Pile of Self-Serving Drivel". Eggers focuses on the tragedies that befall him and his family and when that source of sympathy starts to dry up he inserts himself...

"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" could more accurately be titled" A Colossal Pile of Self-Serving Drivel". Eggers focuses on the tragedies that befall him and his family and when that source of sympathy starts to dry up he inserts himself into the tragedies of other people in his life no matter how remote the relationship. It is typical from Mr. Eggers' generation, Gen X, the Slackers, to play the martyr and expect praise for doing the things that most people consider normal. I don't know why this book was selected as a Pulitzer finalist and I would not recommend it to anyone. And that's not even mentioning the horrendous editing - I counted 15 commas in one sentence - this book should give an English teacher a stroke. I hope Eggers' style has changed now that he is writing fiction but I will never know because I will never read him again.

posted by BlairDT on December 29, 2012

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"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" could more

&quot;A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius&quot; could more accurately be titled&quot; A Colossal Pile of Self-Serving Drivel&quot;. Eggers focuses on the tragedies that befall him and his family and when that source of sympathy starts to dry up he inserts himself into the tragedies of other people in his life no matter how remote the relationship. It is typical from Mr. Eggers' generation, Gen X, the Slackers, to play the martyr and expect praise for doing the things that most people consider normal. I don't know why this book was selected as a Pulitzer finalist and I would not recommend it to anyone. And that's not even mentioning the horrendous editing - I counted 15 commas in one sentence - this book should give an English teacher a stroke. I hope Eggers' style has changed now that he is writing fiction but I will never know because I will never read him again.

7 out of 9 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted October 12, 2009

Not Funny, Not Engaging, A Book for Some Men

You need to be a certain king of a man to enjoy this book, which must appeal primarily to boys in their teens or early 20's. I saw no humor in this, forced myself to read about 2/3 of the book and then gave myself permission to put it down (I almost never do that). I gave it to a man, but even he didn't enjoy it because he is of the more enlightened branch of the male gender (not gay, but in touch with his emotions). Getting inside the mind of an adolescent male brain was not pleasant nor even enlightening.

2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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debramathis

Posted July 9, 2013

I suppose all memoirs are written as an exercise in ego-stroking

I suppose all memoirs are written as an exercise in ego-stroking, but Eggers manages to remind us of this purpose throughout the whole book. I hated him by the end which is unfortunate because there is a good story in all that clever posturing.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted April 10, 2013

One star is more than it deserves!!!!

A waste of my time

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted December 5, 2009

Terrible!

Returned to store.

1 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted January 2, 2007

ugg

Why, why did I waste my time reading this book? AHWOSG was such a dissapointment. Eggars is funny at first, but he gets really annoying fast.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted January 26, 2006

Huh? What did the critics say?

I still can't believe I read the whole thing. It started as a train wreck and was something to watch but quickly became just strange. The very last few pages were so different from the rest of the book that it was if someone else wrote it. I would never recommend anyone waste time on this book.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted December 7, 2014

Mistflamw

Noticed Snakesting and ran out.

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Jerri18

Posted November 29, 2014

Yuck!!

This is one of the first books I just couldn't get into. I got so sick if the author having such grandiose visions of heroism! I stopped reading when I just could not take it anymore. This book sucked!!! What a waist of time.

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Anonymous

Posted November 12, 2014

So called writers will love it.

This the type of book that psudo intellectuals like to sit around and discuss the meaning. It must have met the writers need to get it down on paper but it didnt add any value to my life. I actually couldnt get through it so maybe i missed something at the end but I could not convince myself to waste more time.

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Anonymous

Posted November 8, 2014

Ugh.

Terrible.

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Anonymous

Posted September 3, 2013

This book was not interesting in the least.

It tries to jam down your throatbthe story of the main character

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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does not catch interest at all

I would recomend this book to no one. I don't understand how anyone could enjoy the authors style of writing. His writing style is bland with way too much unnessecery detail. He also prints his actual thoughts into words which makes the text much more difficult to interpret. The subject is fairly interesting, but in order for the novel to keep you captivated you have to really try and pay attention the story here. Basically the story completley fails to grab your interest. I give this book a one because there is nothing about it that's positive.

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Anonymous

Posted July 30, 2006

Not worth it

I was hesitant about reading this book, but a friend who shares the same sense of humor as I do recommended it. I am sorry I bought this book. It's one of those memoirs in which you can just feel the author trying too hard. It's not that funny or engaging. Don't waste your time.

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Anonymous

Posted August 5, 2005

don't waste your time!

I did not enjoy this book, to say the least. I found it rambling, boring, and not at all engaging. I think there could have been a little more coherence to this book. Don't waste your time! I wish I would have never read it.

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Anonymous

Posted May 27, 2004

An Annoying Work of Staggering Boredom

As I slogged through the book, I kept waitng for something heartbreaking or for an example of staggering genius. Unfortunately, what I got for my efforts was a book that was tedious and gave to me unlikeable characters doing mundane things. They never had anything insightful, humorous or remotely entertaining to offer. By the book's conclusion, I felt that the effort to read it was a complete waste of time.

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Anonymous

Posted July 17, 2001

A Heartwrenching Amount of Money and Time to Spend on Stupidity

I was so excited about reading this book seeing as all the reviews were so positive. Oh, how wrong, so many people seem to be! Maybe Eggers is a Staggering Genius and he just has a bumbling idiot for an editor? I was very disappointed by the author's ramblings. He relays stories halfway and relies on the passage of time to be the excuse of not being able to tell the other half of the story. I was so disappointed in this book, that for the first time in my life, I actually returned it for a refund.

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Anonymous

Posted February 22, 2000

EGGERS IS A REALLY CLASSY GUY, LET ME TELL YOU

Mr. Eggars, I hope you read this, you have done a terrific job of compromising the integrity of an entire community. A community that may be the land of milk and honey, but one that held you just the same. Furthermore, low-class is no-class, while defaming old friends of yours and current friends of mine. Your sensitivity to the nature of old wounds in a small town, was borderline barbaric. Surely you have the imagination and time to think up aliases for those most blatently attacked. go scouts go!!

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